Harvard Offers Culinary Course For Scientists

Hey Yale, Harvard has
one-upped you. In the battle for which Ivy League reigns supreme, the Crimson
campus has an edge: They are offering Science of the Physical Universe 27, also
called Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter. The
class discusses the physical and chemical properties of matter through the
science of cooking and inspired and recently guest lectured by D.C. chef José
R. Andrés and Ferran Adrià of the gastronomic center of the world, Il Bulli.

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Food science writer Harold
McGee, Wylie Dufresne of wd~50, Grant Achatz of Alinea, Dan Barber of Blue Hill
and White House pastry chef Bill Yosses are also among the guests lecturing the
packed class. (Over 700 students applied for 300 spots.) The spots were decided
by lottery, though some applicants wrote essays appealing for a seat. And with
good reason. Not only does the class revolve around lectures given by famed
foodies, but it also comes with snacks! Guest chefs teach labs that involve
products much more delicious than your typical science project results: beakers
of smoke, dissected frogs, Rube Goldberg machines (unless they end in a
sandwich being made.) On the menu are steamed "buns" with coconut milk and
methylcellulose, molten chocolate cake when heat diffusion was the topic,
ricotta cheese to illustrate protein denaturation and globules of liquid Greek
yogurt with a chocolate-raspberry center when learning about spherification.

The semester will end with a
grand finale of a science fair where students will vie for a free trip of Barcelona to work on a
project with the Alicia Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to food
and science.

Maybe one of the other Ivys will nab Anthony Bourdain to teach geography and public health? If only they
were offering these courses when we were in school. Sigh.